The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 38 Four Signatures (22)
Coroner: "What does that mean?"

Witness: "When I ran to the woods in a hurry, I was very anxious. I only thought of my father. However, I seem to vaguely remember that when I ran forward, there was something on the ground to my left. It was gray, maybe a coat or something. When I got up from my father, I went to look for it, but it was gone."

"You mean it was gone before you went to get help?"

"Yes."

"Can't you be sure what it is?"

"Not sure, I just feel like there's something there."

"How far was it from the body?"

"About ten yards away."

"How far is it from the edge of the woods?"

"It's also a dozen yards away."

"Then you were only a dozen yards away when someone took it away."

"Yeah, but I was turning my back on it."

The interrogation ends here.

When I had read it, I put the paper aside and said: "McCarthy's suspicions are very strong in view of the coroner's and witnesses' questions and answers, his father's shouting of 'cue' and 'lat', and his refusal to say The reason for the quarrel is really doubtful. It seems that all this is not good for McCarthy."

Holmes stretched his legs halfway on the upholstered armchair and said with a smile: "Watson, you and the coroner are trying to point out the disadvantages of this young man. Don't you realize that you say that he has a good imagination, and that he is a man of great imagination? And what is the cause of his lack of imagination? Too little of imagination, because he failed to invent the reasons for his quarrel with his father to make the jury sympathetic; too much imagination, because he exaggerates according to his own feelings. The strange cry of 'lat' mentioned by the deceased, and the gray coat that suddenly disappeared. But I don't think so, I will approach this case from the point of view of McCarthy's innocence, see this Let's say what happens. Let's not talk about it now, we'll go to Swindon for lunch. We'll be there in 10 minutes."

After passing through the beautiful Stroud Valley and crossing the broad River Severn, we finally arrived at Ross, a pleasant town.On the platform, a tall, lanky man with a sly look was waiting for us.Although he wore a gray trench coat and leather leggings in accordance with local rural customs, I recognized him at a glance as the local Scottish detective Lestrade.We rode with him to the Hereford Arms Hotel where he had booked us a room.

When we sat down to tea in the hotel, Lestrade said: "I have the carriage ready for you, Holmes. I know you will be quick. Why don't you go to the scene of the crime now?"

Holmes replied: "My friend, whether you can go or not depends on the temperature."

Lestrade asked curiously, "What do you mean by that?"

Holmes said, "How many degrees Celsius do you see on the thermometer?"

"29 degrees Celsius, no wind."

Holmes said: "That's right. The weather is fine and the air is fresh, and the furnishings here are much better than those of ordinary rural hotels. So it is better to rest here and let me smoke comfortably for a while. I think you have prepared The carriage probably won’t be needed tonight.”

Lestrade said with a smile: "It seems that you have drawn conclusions based on the newspapers. I also said that this case is clear, and only Miss Turner still insists that he is innocent. She has heard of your name for a long time, so she entrusted me to ask you You come. Although I told her again and again that what I can't do, you can't do, but she still insisted on asking your opinion. Oh, I heard her carriage has arrived at the door."

No sooner had he finished speaking than an unusually beautiful young woman hurried into our room.Her eyes are like blue jewels, crystal clear and bright.Her lips were slightly parted, and her cheeks were slightly red. It could be seen that her excitement and worry even made her forget the reservedness of women.

She said: "Oh, Mr. Holmes," she looked at the two of us in turn as she spoke, and finally fixed her eyes on my friend with a woman's intuition, "I am very glad that you are here. I am here Just to show you that James is innocent. I hope you don't doubt that. We grew up together and I know him better than anyone. He's so kind that he wouldn't hurt an ant. Really know him Everyone thinks the accusation is ridiculous."

"I will do my best to clarify for him," said Holmes, "believe me."

"You have read the testimony, and you must have come to a different conclusion. Don't you see the loopholes and problems in it? Don't you think he is innocent?"

"I think he's probably innocent."

She raised her head happily, looked at Lestrade with contemptuous eyes and said, "Did you hear that, he gave me hope."

Lestrade shrugged his shoulders and said, "I think that's a premature conclusion."

"However, he is right. James would never do such a thing. As for the reason why he and his father quarreled, I know that he didn't say it because he was afraid of implicating me."

"Why do you say that?" asked Holmes.

"I can't hide it anymore. James and his father had a big disagreement because of me. Mr. McCarthy was desperate for us to get married. James and I were as close as brother and sister from childhood. Also, he was young, untested by life, and... ...and... well, he didn't want to marry so young, so they had an argument. I'm sure that was one of the reasons they had an argument."

"And your father?" asked Holmes. "Does he consent to your marriage?"

"He didn't agree either. Mr. McCarthy was the only one who agreed."

Her young face flushed suddenly as Holmes looked at her suspiciously.

Holmes said: "Thank you for the clue. May I call on your father tomorrow?"

"I'm afraid the doctor won't allow you to see him."

"doctor?"

"Yes, if you don't know it, my father was in poor health, and this incident hit him hard. He was bedridden, Dr. Willow said, and his health was so damaged that his Nervously debilitated. Here, Mr. McCarthy was the only person my father knew in Victoria."

"Ah, in Victoria! That's an important clue."

"Yes, at the mine."

"It's a gold mine. As far as I know, your father made his fortune there."

"Yes, it is indeed what you said."

"Thank you, Miss Turner. Your words have helped me a lot."

"If you have any further developments to-morrow, please let me know at once. I think you may go to see James in prison. Oh, Mr. Holmes, if you do, please do tell him. I believe he is innocent."

"I will, Miss Turner."

"I must go home now. My father is very ill and he is always worried when I leave. Goodbye and God bless you." She left our room in a hurry and we heard her carriage Drive to the distance.

Lestrade was silent for a while, and said solemnly, "Holmes, I'm really ashamed of you. How could you give her hopeless hope? Although I'm not a merciful person, what you did was really cruel. .”

"I believe I can vindicate James McCarthy," said Holmes. "Have you a warrant, my friend?"

"Yes, but only you and I can go."

"Well, we can take the train to Hereford tonight to see him. Watson, please wait here now, but I will only be there for an hour or two this time."

I went with them to the train station, and after they got on the train, I wandered around the town for a while before heading back to the hotel.I lie on the couch and pull out a cheap pulp novel to pass the time.But the plot in that novel is superficial and uninteresting, and it is far from the case we are investigating.So I automatically recalled the case.If what McCarthy said was true, what horror had happened before he left his father and heard the call and hurried back to the woods?If I look at the wounds of the deceased with my medical knowledge, I wonder if I can get more clues.Thinking of this, I rang the bell to ask the waiter to bring the village's weekly newspaper.Sure enough, the newspaper recorded the death of the old man in detail.The medical examiner's autopsy testified that the deceased suffered severe injuries to the back of the head, and the skull had been broken, obviously hit from behind by a bulky instrument.This circumstance may have favored the defendant, since he had been seen arguing face to face with his father.However, this does not mean much, because he may have waited for the dead man to turn around and attacked from behind.But in any case, I would like to remind Holmes to pay attention to this point.In addition, what did the deceased say "lat" before he died?Because the old man died of a serious injury, not a disease, it could not be the ravings he spoke when he was unconscious.Or he wanted to explain how he was killed, but it was too late, so the conversation stopped.And what is that gray thing?If it was a coat, the murderer must have lost it by accident, and then picked it up when McCarthy was not looking, and that was a bold man, since the coat was no more than a dozen yards from McCarthy.This case is so bizarre and intricate!I am not surprised by Lestrade's opinion.However, I believe in Holmes' judgment. Since he assumed that the young man was innocent, the murderer must be someone else. But who is the murderer?

Holmes came back very late, for Lestrade was staying in the city, and he came back alone.

He sat down and said: "Watson, the clouds are very high tonight, and it shouldn't rain tomorrow. Let's go there to investigate first in the morning. Besides, this case must be done with all our energy. If there is a slight negligence, it will happen." Loopholes, so I'm afraid to do it after a long haul. I've seen McCarthy."

I asked, "Have you learned anything new from him?"

Holmes said: "No. At first I thought he must know who the murderer was, and deliberately concealed this person. But now it seems that he, like us, knows nothing. Not only is he handsome, he is also very alert, and he is very smart. loyalty."

I said: "If he really doesn't want to marry an attractive young girl like Miss Turner, then he's very poor."

"There's something dark about it! The young man loves her madly. She was five years away from home, and went to a boarding school, before McCarthy knew her. Two years ago, little McCarthy was young, and he dated a bar girl and registered the marriage privately. What a fool he was! Then he fell in love with Miss Turner, but because of the law, he couldn't help himself. That day in the woods he and his father That was the reason for the quarrel. But the case also benefited him because he went to jail and the bar girl finally decided to let go of the young man and said she was in love with a guy who worked in Bermuda. So , McCarthy was relieved of the pain he had suffered in the past. Now there are two doubts that need attention: one is who is the old man dating by the pond? The other is why the old man called 'Cooy'? Because at that time Well, the old man didn't know that his son had returned. These two points are the key to the case, but they really confuse me! Watson, it's getting late, go to bed first, and we'll talk about other things tomorrow."

The next day was fine, as Holmes had expected.Lestrade came at nine o'clock in the morning, and the three of us drove to Hatherley Farm and Boscombe Pond together in a carriage.

Lestrade said: "The sad news was received this morning that Mr Turner is in a serious and critical condition."

"Is he old?" said Holmes.

"Yeah, about 60 years old. But he was not in good health when he was abroad, so he was ill for a long time. Now this incident has a great impact on him. Not only are he and McCarthy old friends, but he is also McCarthy's benefactor. .As far as I understand, he leased Hatherley Farm to McCarthy without charging rent."

"Oh, that is very interesting," said Holmes.

"Yes. Turner was very kind to McCarthy, and people around here praised him for his kindness."

"Then McCarthy had nothing at first, but he didn't know how to repay the kindness of Turner. Instead, he forced Turner's daughter to marry his son. Don't you find it strange? And it is conceivable that this daughter is Turner's entire family. The heir to the property, McCarthy adopted such an outrageous attitude, as if everything was to be obeyed by him. Besides, wouldn’t it be more strange that Turner himself opposed the marriage? These are all said by Turner’s daughter .didn't you find something out of it?"

Lestrade blinked and sneered at Holmes, "We have already deduced it by deduction. Holmes, I don't think it is easy to talk about facts on paper. It is already difficult to seriously investigate the facts."

"You are right," said Holmes, laughing. "You do find the facts difficult to verify."

Lestrade said a little excitedly: "Anyway, I have grasped a fact that you don't seem to know."

"What is..."

"It is that McCarthy was killed by McCarthy, and other claims are baseless."

Holmes smiled and said, "Well, the moonlight is always brighter than the mist. Hatherley Farm is on the left, isn't it?"

"Yes, that is."

It was a two-story slate tile roof building, with a large area and a comfortable style.There are large patches of yellow moss on the gray walls, the curtains are drawn, and the chimney does not emit smoke. It feels very bleak, as if there is a strong horror atmosphere.We alighted, and Holmes knocked at the door, and the maid inside, at his request, showed us the boots in which her master died, and also his son's boots, though not those in which they happened. pair.After Holmes had carefully measured seven or eight different parts of these boots, he asked the maid to show us into the yard, and then followed a winding path to Boscombe Pond.

When Holmes was investigating clues, his demeanor was completely different from usual.His face was now flushed, and now darkened sullenly.His brows were furrowed tightly, and the eyes under the thick black eyebrows shone with a resolute light.Sometimes he prostrated himself and sniffed like a hunting dog catching prey.In a little while we came through the woods to Boscombe Pond.To the north of the pond lay Mr. Turner's house, and to the south the looming house of Hatherley Farm.At that time, where we stood, there was a piece of shallow grass and the ground was wet. This was the place where the old man was killed.The traces of the corpse still seemed to be visible, because there were still the footprints of the corpse mover.As far as I could see, there were only these footprints, but Holmes was there to observe them carefully.

After a while Holmes asked: "Lestrade, you have been to the pond. What are you doing here?"

"I went to the pond to salvage it, and I thought I might be able to find the murder weapon or other clues." He paused for a while, then asked in surprise, "But it happened the day before yesterday, how did you know?"

"Your footprints extend from here to the pond. Anyone can see such a simple thing. Why do you need to ask?" It's easy to observe." Holmes spread his raincoat on the ground, lay down on it and carefully observed the inconspicuous marks on the ground with a magnifying glass, and said, "This is the footprint of McCarthy. He walked back and forth twice, and ran very fast once. Because there are only toes but no heels, this is enough to prove that he is telling the truth. He ran over quickly when he saw his father lying on the ground. Here are the footprints of old McCarthy wandering here. These are the footprints of the corpse mover, Because of walking with heavy objects, the heel is heavier than the toe, and one person walked backwards. What kind of imprint is this? Oh, it may be that McCarthy and his son had an argument, and McCarthy put the gun on the ground, so this is the case. But, this And whose boot prints are they? The boots are square. They came from the north, stopped here, hurried back, and then came back again. This is probably the murderer. When he came back, he wanted to take That overcoat." After he finished speaking, he stood up and walked into the woods, where he saw an obvious footprint on the soil. At the end of the woods was a big tree, and Holmes pressed his body against the tree. On the ground, carefully observe the dead branches and leaves on the ground, then lie down next to the tree, observe the gravel on the ground, and then hold a handful of sand and put it in an envelope.Even a jagged stone in the middle of the moss, he carefully inspected it and put it away.Finally, he whistled triumphantly, and seeing me beside him, he said: "Watson, this is really an interesting case. There is a gray cottage over there, which should be Moran's residence. I will visit her now." , please wait here for a while, we can go back to have lunch when we are done."

We nodded in agreement, and Holmes turned and walked towards the cabin.About 10 minutes later, he came back with a smile and said to us: "Let's go." So we went back in the carriage together.

In the car, Holmes took out the stone he had picked up in the woods and said to Lestrade, "Look, you might be interested in this thing. It is the murder weapon."

Lestrade asked in surprise, "Stones probably don't kill people, do they?"

Holmes said: "Yes, but the murderer used it to kill people. The stone is very heavy, and there is a long grass growing under it, which shows that the stone has not been there for a long time, and it cannot be found where it came from. Where did the traces come from. The shape of the stone matches the wounds of the deceased, and besides, there are no traces of other weapons."

"Then who is the murderer?"

"This man was a tall, left-handed man with a slight limp on his right leg, wore high-heeled hunting boots and a gray overcoat, smoked Indian cigars frequently, and used a cigarette holder, and carried a blunt pocketknife by his side. Among other things, There are several other signs, but these are enough for us to catch him."

Lestrade curled his lips and said, "Your assumption is good, but juries are about evidence."

Holmes said: "I have my own way. You do yours, we do ours. I will be very busy this afternoon. If it goes well, I would like to take a ride back to London tonight."

"Have you stopped the case halfway?"

Holmes said: "No, the case is closed. The murderer has been found, and my duty is done. You only need to find a left-handed man with a slight right leg and catch him."

Lestrade shrugged his shoulders and said: "I'm a practical man. I don't want to go door-to-door in this part of the country and I'll be the laughing stock of Scotland Yard."

(End of this chapter)